1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a wide area information system for organizing and accessing information, as well as methods for implementation thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
The popularity of the World Wide Web (WWW) segment of the Internet has risen dramatically in the recent past as the general public has become more aware of its existence. However, despite its popularity and diversity, audio information plays a noticeably small role on the WWW.
Current uses of audio on the WWW include the ability to download audio segments from certain WWW sites. Typically, a user must wait, sometimes for extended periods of time, until the entire audio file is transmitted before the audio file can be heard.
A system developed at Texas Instruments, Inc. allows a user to access the WWW through a speech interface, thereby obviating conventional point and click access to WWW hyperlinks. However, this system still requires a visual display terminal to show the data being browsed and to guide the input of commands. According to the TI system, a user can "jump" to different pages by speaking the name of a hyperlink.
It can be seen in the foregoing conventional systems that audio is still substantially a secondary object. First, the bulk of the information on a WWW page is simply not audio information. Second, the user still requires a visual interface to enable navigation, even with, for example, the TI speech interface.
This latter issue is a problem when a user does not have access to a computer or the like, or is engaged in activities that require the user's visual attention, such as driving an automobile.
However it is felt that audio remains an important medium for information, and can satisfy heretofore unmet demands in wide area information systems.
However, in applications where attempts have been made to use audio as the primary operational medium, such as phone menu systems (such as voice mail), such systems frequently overwhelm a user by requiring the user to memorize menu lists, yet presenting so much information in such lists that recollection is made difficult or impossible.